Northeastern State at Emporia State Saturday, Dec. 18 |  7:30 p.m. | White Auditorium
Records	Northeastern State (6-3, 1-2 MIAA) • Emporia State (7-3, 2-2 MIAA)
Game Notes	Northeastern State • Emporia State
Listen	Bill Huddleston (play-by-play) NSU Digital Network
Watch	The MIAA Network
Live Stats	NSU Live Stats
Tickets	Tickets Available at Gate | ESU Ticketing
Social Media	@RiverHawksMBB  | @RiverHawksMBB  | Facebook

The Setup

• The RiverHawks will take on the Turnpike Tussle to close out the calendar year, facing Emporia State and Washburn on the road.
• Saturday is the lone late evening game scheduled for the rest of the regular season.  On the MIAA schedule for Saturday, it is the final tip-off of the day.

Last Time Out

• Northeastern State returned to their winning ways at home, beating Pitt State 59-42 for their first MIAA victory of the season Saturday evening.
• Emeka Obukwelu was a rebound short of a double-double with a game-high 19 points and nine rebounds.  Christian Cook had 15, and Rashad Perkins scored 13 off the NSU bench. 
• Northeastern State could not pull away from Pitt State until Dillon Bailey hit a three-pointer with 14:15 left in the second half.  The RiverHawks would erupt for 15 unanswered points in the following 6:24, taking advantage of an ice-cold Gorillas team who missed ten straight field goal attempts. 

Storylines

• Emeka Obukwelu has scored at least ten points in the last seven games, averaging just about a double-double per game, and is fourth overall in the MIAA, averaging 17.9 points per game.  The graduate student holds the sixth-largest points outing this season in the MIAA with 31 against Arlington Baptist and the highest rebounds in a game at 20 against Ozarks (Ark.).
• Rashad Perkins has turned into one of the top scoring threats in the MIAA off the bench this season, averaging 14.1 points per game.  At Missouri Western, his 40 points were the most for an NSU men's basketball player since 2014 and tied for the most in the game this season in the MIAA.  Perkins is shooting 65.2-percent from the field and 54.5-percent from the arc, averaging 26.0 minutes per game this year.
• Christian Cook has eight games this with at least ten points and has scored in double-figures in the last five games for NSU.    He has scored at least ten in 13 of the previous 14 contests, going back to last season. 
• Tylor Arnold has two double-double games this season for NSU and is fourth in points (7.8), second in rebounding (5.9), and tied for third in overall assists (22). Arnold played for head coach Ja Havens for three seasons at East Central (Okla.) and was on the top-10 list for career minutes played, career steals, and career throw percentage.  
• Northeastern State men's basketball set an attendance record during Thanksgiving break, with 2,231 fans attending their game against Haskell.  The number is good for the ninth-most in NCAA Division II basketball this season. 
• The RiverHawks has made a three-pointer in 105 consecutive games.  Feb. 2, 2017 against Southwest Baptist is the last time NSU did not make a three going 0-16.
• In October, Northeastern State was picked to finish in 13th place in both the MIAA Coaches and Media Polls.
• The 2021-22 season is the 93rd for men's basketball at Northeastern State.
• The RiverHawks are entering their tenth season as members of the MIAA and 25th season as an NCAA Division II program.

About Emporia State

• The Emporia State offense runs through Tray Buchanan, who is ranked first in the nation in points per game (27.2) and made free throws (80).  In ten games this season, he has nine games with at least 20 points, with his lowest effort in a 19 point game against William Jewell.   Most of his scoring is at the arc, where he is 32-for-74.  Interestingly, Buchanan has had 29 point efforts in all three of Emporia State's losses this season.
• On turnovers, the Hornets limit themselves to 9.2 per game, an MIAA low and sixth-lowest in the nation.  They are one of the best nationally at the free-throw line, shooting 79.7-percent, good for eighth-best in Division II.   They don't foul much with an 11.8 average per game; the fourth-lowest in the nation, Northeastern State, is 16.7 per game. 
• Kaden Evans is second in the MIAA with 24 steals and leads the nation with a 6.00 assist-to-turnover ratio. 

Last Time They Met

• The contest was rescheduled twice due to COVID-19 protocols, and then later, it was the weather.   Due to the rescheduling, NSU played Emporia at the end of a run of four games in five days, playing the night prior at Washburn.
• In his first career start, Christian Cook dropped this second 20-point performance of the season.
• Emporia State shot 55.7-percent against the RiverHawks.

Series Notes

• In the previous ten meetings, the series is split at 5-5. 
• First December meeting between the two programs since Dec. 2005, both were at Emporia State. 
• Northeastern State has averaged 69.0 points in 26 contests with the Hornets.
• In MIAA conference play, the RiverHawks have a 10-8 series lead over the Hornets.